Jiayan Sun, pianist

Praised by the New York Times for his “revelatory” performances, and by the Toronto Star for his “technically flawless, poetically inspired and immensely assured playing,” pianist Jiayan Sun has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, the Chinese and RTÉ (Ireland) National Symphony Orchestras, the Fort Worth and Toledo Symphony Orchestras, the Toronto and Aspen Concert Orchestras, and the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, and he has conducted from the keyboard the Meiningen Court Orchestra. He has collaborated with prominent conductors such as Sir Mark Elder, Stefan Sanderling, Xincao Li, Daejin Kim, David Hayes, Thomas Crawford, Tianhui Ng, Kerry Stratton, the late Leon Fleisher and Michail Jurowski. His performances have been broadcast by the BBC, the RTÉ, China Central Television, and classical music radio stations in North America. He has performed at and participated in the Verbier Festival, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, the Aspen Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, and PianoTexas. Under the mentorship of Sir András Schiff, he was invited to give multiple solo recitals in Europe as part of Schiff’s “Building Bridges” project.

Mr. Sun has been awarded prizes at many of the major international piano competitions, including third prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition, second prize at the Dublin International Piano Competition, fourth prize and the audience prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, first prize at the inaugural CCC Toronto International Piano Competition. Playing early keyboard instruments and studying historical performance practice have played a significant role in Mr. Sun’s musical activities, with critically acclaimed appearances with the American Classical Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall. His solo album Busoni and His Muses, released on Bridge Records in commemoration of Busoni’s centennial of death, garnered critical acclaim on Gramophone and International Piano.

Born in Yantai, China, he received Bachelor’s, Master’s and the Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Yoheved Kaplinsky and Sir Stephen Hough. His other mentors include pianists Malcolm Bilson, Richard Goode, Robert Levin, and harpsichordist Lionel Party. Currently Associate Professor of Music and the Associate Chair for Performance Activities at Smith College, he presented Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas in chronological order, in addition to yearlong series devoted to the music of Schubert and Chopin. As a pedagogue, he has lectured and given masterclasses at The Juilliard School in New York and Tianjin, Central and Hangzhou Conservatories of Music, Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, The Music Conservatory of Ho Chi Minh City, and The University of São Paulo, among others. Jiayan Sun is a Steinway Artist.

Learn more at jiayansunpianist.com.